Friday, March 30, 2007

Thursday, March 29, 2007Reported by: Stacy DanielATASCADEROA Paso Robles teenager is shot with a taser after police said he was caught stealing booze from a local store.Here are the facts first.Wednesday, March 28 around 5p.m., police responded to a shoplifting call at Von's in Atascadero.When the suspect was confronted he made a threatening gesture toward the officer.He was shot with a taser but still managed to break free.The teen was finally taken into custody with help from a customer.It took the use of a taser, help from a Good Samaritan and an off duty police officer to get the 17-year-old suspect into custody.Cops call a taser the most valuable tool they have to safely subdue a suspect.Shooting out 50,000 volts of electricity, tasers are routinely used in officer training to teach cops how to bring a suspect into custody safely.Officers said the use of this non-lethal weapon is what helped them capture a teen suspected of shoplifting from a local grocery store."The last thing we want to do is have a shooting go down over the theft of alcohol or that type of stuff in a crowded store," said Atascadero Police Lieutenant Jim Mulhall.Cops said when the teen was confronted he made a threatening move, toward the officer.She hit him a taser and the suspect dropped to the ground."As he hit the ground one of the barbs from the taser pulled loose and he was able to jump up and run away," said Mulhall.An off duty police officer heard the commotion and jumped into action, along with a Good Samaritan."As the suspect ran out, he was running down the street and a citizen actually caught the suspect in a body hit and the person went down and the officer and the off duty officer were able to take the individual into custody," said Mulhall.The arrest netted a bigger catch than the cops had suspected."It turns out he has a no bail felony warrant out of Paso Robles. He was an escapee from a group home and had been on the run for three or four months before being captured last night," said Mulhall.The off duty officer and two witnesses received minor injuries when the suspect attempted to get away.Two 15-year-old boys, who are friends of the suspect, were also taken into custody.The suspect is charged with four felonies and one misdemeanor.The two 15-year-olds are charged with two felonies and conspiracy to commit a felony and burglary.

The small Reedsburg, Wis., Police Department has purchased five Taser guns for its 18 officers.

The community is located in Sauk County, about an hour northwest of Madison.

Officers spent Thursday completing training. Officials said the Taser guns will be used only in situations where a person is actively violent or threatening violence toward an officer or another citizen.

"When you're incapacitated by a Taser (gun) you're unable to fight through that, and (it'll) hopefully cut down on injuries to an officer trying to handcuff the subject so they don't have to fight them," said Scott Peterson, patrol officer with the Reedsburg Police Department.Each Taser gun costs $1,300 and has a camera on the end of it to record what's happening each time it is in use.

Officer Edward Long of the Sheffield Village (Ohio) Police Department has resigned after he used a Taser on a drunken 32-year old woman in a police booking room prompting the chief to cite him for excessive force.

It looks like both a male and female officer are having difficulting controlling a mouthy, drunk Kristina Fretter and Officer Long tases her from a doorway in the booking room. The suspect goes completely stiff and falls back, hitting her head on a chair.

Fretter, agreed to drop her case against Sheffield Village in exchange for having the case against her dismissed.